Council of State dismisses far-right’s appeal against Migration Pact

The Council of State has dismissed an appeal by the far-right party Vlaams Belang against the Federal Government decision to approve the UN Migration Pact. The Council of State motivated its ruling by saying that there was no proof of any urgency that would necessitate the suspension of the decision.

Tue 18 Dec 2018 16:56

Furthermore, the arguments put forward by Vlaams Belang were judged to be “not serious”.

At the beginning of last week the Vlaams Belang federal MPs Filip Dewinter, Jan Penris and Barbara Pas lodged a demand for suspension with the Council of State. The party requested that the Federal Government’s decision to back the UN Migration pact be suspended.

The party argued that such a decision could only be taken with the agreement of the whole government and the Flemish nationalists (who were in the Federal Government until the weekend before last) weren’t in agreement.

The Migration Pact will be voted upon at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.